


Dog Days

by Just_a_simple_trash_can



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: #capri month, Fluff, Laurent has a corgi, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 07:41:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14890374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_a_simple_trash_can/pseuds/Just_a_simple_trash_can
Summary: Damen finds a lost dog and meets the cute owner.For Caprimonth: Loss





	Dog Days

**Author's Note:**

> This probably wasn’t what loss was supposed to be, but Laurent and Damen deserve to be happy and I can’t bring myself to make them sad.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

“Alright, Ginger. I’m going out.” The cat responded by rolling onto her back and meowing up at Damen. He scratched her stomach with his foot before putting his shoe on. “Don’t meow at me. Your food bowl is full.” She meowed again and started to claw at Damen’s couch. “Hey! Stop that!” He nudged her away, causing her to run down the hall, most likely to his bedroom. He stood back up and grabbed his phone, plugging his headphones in before opening the door. 

 

Damen had been living in his apartment for about two years and during that time, he was never surprised when he opened his door. Things changed, he guessed, as a corgi, probably only a year or two old started to jump on his leg. The dog started barking and whimpering, begging to be picked up. Damen carefully picked up the crying puppy and looked at the tag on his collar.

 

“Charlie, huh?” Charlie leaned forward and began to lick Damen’s face. Damen laughed, turning the tag around, looking for a phone number. There wasn’t one. “You’re a little small to be wandering around alone.” Charlie responded by licking his face again. Damen looked down the hall to see if anyone may have been chasing after him. “I was going to go for a jog, but I think finding your owner is a little more important.” Damen locked his front door, pulling out his phone to find the nearest animal shelter. His car was still at the mechanic so he was going to have to walk. At least he was still getting a work out. While they walked, Charlie busied himself either licking Damen’s face or biting his ear and hair. He was cute, so Damen allowed it. It was better than Ginger constantly scratching his arm or biting his foot.

 

The shelter’s parking lot was relatively empty when Damen walked up. It was still early in the morning so it made sense that only the employees would be there. There was a car that was a little too nice for someone who worked at a shelter, but who was Damen to judge. He drove a brand new truck on a personal trainer’s budget. People lived very different lives.

 

Damen opened the door to the shelter and immediately saw a blonde man standing at the counter in tears. He was desperately begging the woman behind the desk for answers. She wore a solemn face and said that no one had brought in any dogs in the past week. Charlie started barking and scratched at Damen’s arm. Damen put him onto the floor and he ran over to the blonde man who fell to his knees when he saw Charlie.

 

“Charlie!” he cried out, taking the dog into his arms. “I was so worried.” Charlie licked his face and barked happily, making the man laugh. Damen smiled at the sight and started to walk out when he heard, “Wait.” The man walked over to him, still holding Charlie tightly in his arms. “Where did you find him?”

 

“Outside my apartment,” Damen answered. “He was just sitting outside. There wasn’t a number on his tag so I thought I would bring him here and they could see if he had a chip.”

 

“Thank you. So much. I…” The man pressed his face into Charlie’s fur. “I don’t know what I would have done if I lost him.”

 

“I’m just glad to see that he’s back home.” The man opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again. 

 

“Let me buy you a cup of coffee. Or breakfast. As a thank you.”

 

“Actually I was going to…” Damen drifted off and look at the man. He was on the verge of a breakdown because he had lost his dog. Damen had been the same way when he lost the dog he and Jokaste had adopted together, but that was because he had also found out that Jokaste has been sleeping with his brother. He vaguely wondered if this man had anyone other than Charlie. “You look stressed. Let me buy breakfast. My treat. My name is Damen.”

 

“Laurent,” the man replied. “My name is Laurent.” Charlie let out a small bark and bit Laurent’s ear.

 

“Well then Laurent,” Damen said with a smile. “I’m sure Charlie would like some breakfast too.”

***

“He ran out yesterday morning and I’ve been looking for him ever since.” Laurent took the lid off of his coffee cup and blew into it before taking a sip. “He snuck out when I was getting ready for work. My door swings open when I don’t lock it and I had to run back to my bedroom to grab my phone. I’ve been so worried.” He ripped a piece of chicken out of his sandwich and held it in front of Charlie who ate it and licked Laurent’s hand. 

 

“He must mean a lot to you.” Damen had already finished his sandwich and was working on his second iced tea.

 

“Charlie was a gift from my brother when I moved into my apartment. I was nervous about living alone so he got me Charlie. He was the last thing Auguste ever gave to me.”

 

“Your brother is…” Damen didn’t want to finish his sentence. Laurent nodded.

 

“He died three months after he gave me Charlie. He was hit by a drunk driver. They got him to the ambulance but he didn’t make it to the hospital. Charlie is all I have left of him.”

 

“I’m so sorry.”

 

“It’s been two years since then. It doesn’t hurt as much, but when Charlie disappeared, all the pain came back and I felt so alone.” Laurent scratched Charlie’s head. “I’m not good at making friends if you couldn’t tell.” Silence fell between them. Laurent was rubbing his eyes and Damen was worried that he was going to start crying again.

 

“I had a dog,” Damen started. “A German Shepard named Snow. My ex-girlfriend and I adopted him together when we were still dating. Snow disappeared one day and I couldn’t find him anywhere. It took me a week before I found out that my ex had taken him out of the apartment and that she was sleeping with my brother. I only found out because I wanted to talk to Kastor for comfort and found Snow sleeping on the couch. I broke up with her and she took all of her things and my dog. The most bullshit part is that Kastor is allergic to dogs.” Laurent smiled a little as he scratched Charlie’s chin.

 

“You can come see Charlie whenever you would like. I think he’s taken a liking to you.”

 

“Maybe after the cat moves out of my apartment.” Laurent raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m watching my best friend’s cat while he’s at his sister's wedding.”

 

“What a good friend.” Laurent looked at his watch and started to clean up his trash. “I hate to end this so early, but I have to get to work.”

 

“Can we do this again sometime?” Damen blushed and cleared his throat. “If you want to I mean.”

 

“Well, I do owe you for bringing my dog back and for buying me breakfast so…” He grabbed Damen’s phone and started typing something. “That’s my phone number and address. If you’re not busy, you should come over for dinner sometime. Charlie and I would appreciate it.” Laurent then leaned down and pressed his lips against Damen’s cheek. “It was a pleasure to meet you.” He gave Damen a wink before picking Charlie up and walking back to his car.

 

“Friday works for me!” Damen yelled, louder than he intended. “I get off of work at four!” Laurent smiled. 

 

“I’ll see you Friday then.” He got into the driver’s seat and drove away. Damen grabbed his phone and called the first person he can think of.

 

“Damen,” Nik hissed out. “The wedding starts in ten minutes.”

 

“Guess who has a date on Friday.” Nik went silent for a moment.

 

“Give me an hour and you are telling me everything.”

 

“Absolutely.” Damen hung up and fell back in his chair, a permanent smile on his lips.

  
  



End file.
